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Google CEO details delicate iPhone relationship

JohnLetzing

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt on Wednesday detailed the sensitive nature of his membership on the board of Apple Inc., as both companies seek to expand Internet use on mobile devices like Apple's iPhone.

Schmidt, addressing an event in San Francisco sponsored by Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications, said "the vast majority" of searches done through Google
GOOG, -0.73%
via mobile phones now come from the iPhone.

Still, Schmidt reiterated that he must occasionally be excused from Apple board meetings, as Google is preparing to supply the operating system used to power a mobile device that could compete with the iPhone by the end of this year.

"I've only done this once or twice, so it's not as common as it sounds," Schmidt said.

Schmidt was asked whether the increasing competition between Apple
AAPL, -1.54%
and Google on the mobile front might ultimately prompt his resignation from Apple's board. "It has not so far," he said.

Google's CEO sought to draw a distinction between the iPhone and the devices expected some time in the fourth quarter that will use Google's Android operating system. They "will likely be quite different," he said, though he did not offer details.

But Schmidt also noted that both companies share a similar goal of more prominently featuring an Internet browser tool on devices -- a tool common among cell phones today, but most often buried amid other features or barely functional.

Apple announced earlier this week to much fanfare that in July it will begin selling a version of the iPhone capable of connecting to more advanced, higher-speed networks, and at reduced prices. See related story.

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